Experts Say

Australia, extended nuclear deterrence, and what comes after

American Strategy Policy Initiative
June 2, 2017
By Rod Lyon

Recent media reports suggest senior US officials have told Julie Bishop that if North Korea’s nuclear weapon program can’t be reversed, South Korea and Japan will likely pursue their own indigenous nuclear arsenals. In fact, the proliferation chain might not be quite that straight-forward—in every proliferating country strategic logic has to coexist with a permissive political environment. But the strategic logic is certainly becoming more compelling.